Printed fabric and process of making the same



Sept. 29, 1931. c. DREYFUS ET AL 1,825,342

PRINTED FABRIC AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Sept. 21, 1927 FABRIC OF THERMOPLASTIC, DERIVATIVE 0F CELLULOSE DYE DISPERSED lru WAX INVENTORS CAMILLE DREYFUS. WILLIAM WH\TEHEAD AND BY HERBERT'RLATT ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 29, 1931 CA'MTLLJE DREYFUS, OF NEW YURK, N. "21, AND WILLIAM WHITEHEAD AND HERBERT PLATT, 01F CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND, ASSIGNORS T CELANESE CORPORATION OF AMERICA, A CORPORATIUN OF DELAWARE PRINTED FABRIC AND PROCESS OF MARIN (11- THE SAME Application fled september 21, 19217. aerial Ito. 221,138.

This invention relates to new and improved methods of printing, dyeing 0r stencilling fabrics whether the same be made of silk, wool, cotton, thermoplastic derivatives of cellulose such as cellulose esters and ethers, artificial silk of the cellulose type, etc. or mixtures of the same.

This invention also relates to a novel method of simultaneously printing and embossing w materials containing such thermoplastic derivatives of cellulose. The term printing as used in the specification and claims is intended to be considered as including within its scope dyeing, printing, stencilling etc.

An object of this invention is to dispense with the direct application of pastes, thickeners, agglutinants, etc., on the fabrics to be printed. Another object of this invention is to provide a process for the printing of fabrics by the transfer of the dye-stufi or coloring matter from a transfer sheet to the fabric which is to be printed. Still another ob- 4 ject of this invention is to obtain printing on fabrics which will be fast and which will not I'llb.

Further objects of this invention are to simultaneously emboss and print fabrics, particularly in such a manner that the embossing will coincide with the printed design a thereby accentuating both the color efiect and the embossed design. Other objects will appear from the following specification and claims.

There are known today several methods of rinting fabrics. These various methods can e classified under the broad headings of direct printing, discharge printing and resist printing. All of these processes" involve or depend on the use of gums, pastes, etc. to

o prepare thedyestufi' in such form that it can be applied to a fabric. Unless these pastes are exactly of the proper consistency the fabric does not take the design clearly and distinctly.

\ The present invention does away with the wax. The material containing the dye and proximately 10 parts of SRAblue IV was application of these pastes, etc. on the fabric to be printed in the printing oftextiles and similar materials. This'is accomplished by transferring the dye-stufi from any suitable transfer sheet or medium to the fabric to be printed.

The dye or dyes with which it is desired to print, dye or stencil the fabric are dissolved or dispersed in a material containing hot wax is then sprayed, brushed or otherwise applied to a transfer sheet, which may be made of paper, fabric, flexible metal, etc. The transfer medium will thus be impregnated or-coated with the dye containing wax. After the coated material is permitted to cool, it is dried and does not rub. The dyes selected should be such that they have an aifinity for or are capable of coloring the particular fabric that is to be printed. Where different colors are to bee-applied, a transfer or medium for each color may be utilized, or difierent portions of the transfer medium may have different color dyes applied thereto.

In accordance with this invention, the dye or dyes are dissolved in hot wax. While any wax may be used, we have found that the use of beeswax or carnauba' wax gives excellent results. The proportion of wax to dye may be varied within very wide limits depending on the nature of the dye, the depth of the color desired, the fabric tobe printed, etc. In one instance a mixtureof approximately 90 parts of beeswax and apused. The wax is melted and the dye in powder form is then added, whereupon it becomes dispersed or dissolved in the wax. Other substances such as phenol, ammonium sulpho cyanate, acetone or the like may be added to the mixture of wax and dyestuflf. The transfer sheet may be pa er, fabric, metallic sheet or the like. If a fa ric is used, it should preferably be made of a material different from that of the fabricbeing. 00

printed, and more preferably of a material whose behavior towards the dye being used is different from that of the fabric being printed. Thus where a fabric or organic derivative of cellulose is being printed, the transfer sheet will be made of natural silk or cotton, preferably a light natural silk. We have found that onion skin paper offers an excellent base for the transfer medium. The sheet is colored or impregnated with the molten wax-dyestuff mixture and allowed to set.-

The fabric that is to be printed is now prepared by passing the same through a bath containing a liquid that is a solvent for the particular dye or dyes present on the transfer medium. This solvent may be applied to the fabric in any other suitable manner, such as by spraying or brushing. Needless to say, the solvent for the dye above referred to should be one that will not deleteriously affect the fabric. The surplus liquid is then preferably, but not necessarily, removed from the fabric in any suitable manner such as by passing the same through rollers. The moistened fabric is then brought in contact with the transfer medium prepared as above set forth, by conducting it direct with the transfer medium between rollers preferably heated, under pressure. The rollers may have any desired design in relief or intaglio thereon.

Since the dye selected is one which has an affinity for the particular type of fabric treated, those portions of the fabric which come in contact under pressure with the transfer medium will be colored due to the fact that the dye on the transfer medium will be dissolved by the solvent in the fabric.

When printing in accordance with the present invention, care must be taken that the fabric is not too moist. The fabric should be so dry that the dye upon the transfer med- -ium will be dissolved only in those portions which are brought into contact with the dampened fabric through the application of pressure. In utilizing the present invention for dyeing, that is for imparting a uniform color to the fabric, extreme care should be exercised to see that the fabric is evenly brought into contact with the transfer medium in order to avoid uneven dyeing. The fabric after being treated as above is dried or allowed to dry so that a liquid with which it has been wetted will evaporate. The dye, will of course, remain on the fabric permanently, having combined with the later in the same manner as in ordinary dyeing operation.

In another application of our invention, this method of printing may also be combined with an embossing operation. In order to do this, the fabric to be printed and embossed is first wetted with a liquid containing a softening agent for the material of which the fabric is composed and a solvent for the dye-stuff to be employed as a coloring agent. The fabric may be wetted by spraying with or by immersion in the liquid in any suitable manner. The excess liquid is removed from the fabric in any desired manner, such as by passing the fabric through rolls or by partial evaporation of the liquid, etc.

WVhere necessary or desirable the liquid that is used for wetting the fabric preparatory to subjecting the fabric to the embossing operation, may contain one substance which will act as a softening agent for the material of which the fabric is composed and a second substance which will serve as a solvent for the dye-stuff upon the transfer medium. However, where possible it is advisable to select a substance which acts both as a softening agent for the material and a solvent for the dye stuff. Thus, for example, in the treatment of fabric containing cellulose acetate, excellent results have been obtained by utilizing an acqueous solution of acetone as a wetting medium, the acetone serving to dissolve the dye-stufi and also to act as a softening agent for the cellulose acetate. Excellent results are obtained by the use of 25 /0 to 50% aqueous acetone solutions for this purpose.

The fabric, after the excess liquid has been removed, together with the transfer medium containing the dye or dyes dissolved or dispersed in the wax application distributed thereon, are then simultaneously subjected to a suitable embossing operation such as is described in the application of C. Dreyfus, Serial No. 167,876, filed June 30, 1927, and Serial No. 205,044, filed July 11, 1927. Thus they may be passed through a set of rolls at least one of which contains a design engraved thereon. The fabric and transfer medium as they pass through the rolls are subjected to pressure and where desirable the rolls may also be maintained at elevated temperature. IVhile passing through the rolls, the fabric is not only permanently embossed but those portions of the fabric which have been embossed also absorb dyes from the transfer medium and are correspondingly colored. Those portions of the fabric which come in contact with the unengravcd portion of the rolls do not absorb any of the dye-stuff from the transfer medium due to the fact that they are not subjected to as great a pressure as those portions which contact with the engraved portions. This coloring of only the embossed portion of the fabric serves to afford a greater contrast than usual between such embossed portion of the fabric and unembossed portions of the fabric.

Different portions of the design, can, of course, be differently colored by applying appropriate dye-stuff to those portions of the transfer medium. Obviously instead of the rolls above referred to, other embossing devices, for example a die and stamp can be employed. In order to secure excellent results, at least one of the rolls or other embossing devices used may bemaintained at a temperature of about 50 to degrees C.

After the above treatment either of printing alone or of simultaneously printing and embossing, the fabric may then be given any desired finishing treatment if. necessary. For instance, the fabric may be scoured 1n water at temperatures of 40 to 45 degrees C. to remove any wax that Ina adhere thereto. Furthermore, if desired t e printed fabric may be aged by treatment with steam. llhe fabric printed or embossed and printed in accordance with the foregoing description is found to be uite permanent to the action of light and was ing. Thisindicates that the dye-stud is not merely superficially deposited on the fabric, but is actually combined therewith as in the case of ordinary dyeing. lln one variation for embossing and/or printing, the printing or embossing roll may have engraved or cut thereon a design of varying. depth. When the fabric and transfer is im-' pressed with such roll, a varying pressure is effected on the fabric due to the variation of the depth of the design and consequently a design having difierence of depth of shade and gradual shading effects maybe obtained.

For further understanding of this invention, reference is had to the "accompanying drawings showing one'mode of carrying out the same. In the drawings l igure 1 is a view showing diagrammat ically apparatus that may be employedfor carrying out the invention,

Figure .2 shows the fabric before it is subjected to the process of the invention, and

Pi ure 3 shows the fabric after the same has een embossed and printed in accordance with one form of the invention. 7

Figure 4 is a cross section on enlarged scale of the" transfer sheet.

' Referring to Figure 1, the fabric containing the yarn of the thermoplastic derivative of cellulose such as cellulose acetate, is assed from the roll 2 to the roll 3, and durlng its passage, the transfer sheet 4 containing the dyestufl' dispersed in a wax issuperposed thereon. The transfer sheet 4 is passed fromthe roll 5 to the roll 6. The assembly of the fabric 1 and the transfer sheet 4 ispressed between the rolls 7 and 8, one or both of which are heated. Theroll 7 is preferably provided with a design in relief, to form the male member of the embossin device, while the roll 8 is engraved intaglio to form the female member of the embossing de'vi'ce..

Figure 2 shows the fabric 1 asit appears before it is subjected to the process, while Figure 3 shows the fabric having the designs 10 embossed and colored after it has been subjected to the process.

a a be considered as limitative. It is a. be i The above illustrations, are, of course, not

may be used in this process.

The fabric to be treated may be made in part or in whole of natural fibres, such as silk, wool or cotton or ofartificial fibres such as reconstituted cellulose, organic derivatives of cellulose or thermoplastic derivatives of cellulose. Examples of organic derivatives of cellulose are cellulose esters such as cellulose formats, cellulose acetate, cellulose propionate, cellulosebutyrate and cellulose ethers such as methyl cellulose or ethyl cellulose. The fabric may be composed of mixtures of any of the above substances, such as fr'nixed cellulose acetate and cotton, mixed cellulose acetate and silk or mixed? cellulose acetate and wool.

This process may be applied not only to fabrics containing yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose but may be also applied to the printing and/or embossing .of artificial leather containing organic cellulose derivatives, leather or any textile fabric coated with organic cellulose derivatives, films and like products made of organic cellulose derivatives, etc.

Having described our invention what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Method of printing fabric containing thermoplastic derivatives of cellulose comprising wetting the fabric with a liquid, placing on the wetted fabric a transfer sheet coated with a substance containing a wax having a dye dispersed thereon, which dye is at least partially soluble in the liquid, and impressing a surface having a design thereon upon the sheet and fabric.

2. Method of printing fabric containing cellulose acetate comprising wetting the'fabric with a liquid, placing on the wetted fabric a transfer sheet coated with a substance containing a wax having a dye dispersed thereon, which dye is at least partially solu-' ble in the liquid, and impressing a surface. having a design thereon upon-the sheet and fabric. V

3. Method of simultaneously embossing and printing fabrics containing cellulose acetate which comprises wetting the fabric with a liquid that is capable of softening said cellulose acetate and also of at least partially in llh containing a dyestuif dis ersed in a wax-by means of an embossing I evice.

4. Method of simultaneously embossing and printing fabrics containing cellulose acetate which comprises wetting the fabric with a. liquid containing acetone and then contacting said fabric with a transfer sheet containing a dyestufl dispersed in a wax by means of an embossing device.

memes 5. Method of simultaneously embossing and printing fabrics containing cellulose acetate which comprises Wetting the fabric with a liquid containing acetone and then contacting said fabric with a transfer sheet containing a dyestuff dispersed in a Wax by means of a heated embossing device under pressure.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

CAMILLE DREYFUS. WILLIAM VVHIIEHEAD. HERBERT PLATT. 

